There Are Healthy Solutions for Pain Today

There are those people who are born and live a great deal of their lives with fantastic, perhaps even near perfect, vision. However, just because you were gifted with great vision does not mean your eyes cannot succumb to the most powerful detriment to vision: age. There are many age-related eye diseases that affect even the most powerful visions. This brief article will serve to inform you of 5 of the most common age-related eye disease and what their effects are.

Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration is a disease that affects the very center of your eye, it breaks down the cells that are responsible for processing the center of your vision, creates abnormal blood vessel growth, and can serve to destroy and distort the very element that makes your vision crisp and clear.

It is common among people over 50 years of age, and though it cannot result in total blindness, age-related macular degeneration serves to deeply affect day-to-day tasks and chores.

Treatments for this disorder include laser eye therapy, wherein lasers are used to destroy abnormal blood vessel growth that may occur, and medication.

Cataracts

Cataracts are among the most well-known and common eye diseases to affect people due to age. Cataracts are, essentially, a clouding of the eyes. With cataracts, your vision may become cloudy and blurred, you may experience a sort of washed out, faded look with regard to colors, and you may notice and preponderance of glare. Aging causes proteins to lump together behind the lens of the eyes, which can cause cataracts.

Luckily, cataracts are usually easily corrected this day and age using corrective laser surgery, which is quite inexpensive and largely painless.

Diabetic Eye Disease

As you age, you become more susceptible to the prospect and effects of diabetes. Diabetic eye disease is a complication of diabetes that is exacerbated by age and is quite common in elderly patients of diabetes that do not adequately take care of their body. It can result in total blindness. Diabetic retinopathy is the most common form of diabetic eye disease and occurs when the tiny blood vessels behind the retina constrict and constrain due to diabetes, causing the retina to detach from the iris.

Treatment for this disease involves managing your diabetes through diet and exercise, and in extreme cases surgery might be necessary to correct the detached retina.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma does not actually refer to a singular disease, but rather a myriad of diseases with similar effects that can cause strain and eventually deep damage to your eyes. Glaucoma is usually associated with affecting the eye's optic nerve and be the source of a great deal of stress, pressure and pain behind the eye. With age, the prospect of glaucoma can become much worse, and it is one of the leading causes of blindness among the elderly population.

Those over the age of 60 should consider receiving proactive, preventative treatment for glaucoma such as lowering the eye pressure in the eye and taking medicated drops that are known to prevent glaucoma.

Dry Eye

Although it sounds rather innocuous, and compared to some of the other diseases listed throughout, it is, dry eye can actually be quite complicated and it is more common for people over the age of 40 to experience chronic dry eye. Dry eye occurs when the tear ducts do not produce enough lubrication to adequately produce tears, which can lead to a definitive dryness of your eyes.

Although it does not lead to permanent damage and certainly not to blindness, everyday tasks, such as reading, watching television or driving, can become increasingly difficult and in some cases, impossible to perform. Prescription eye drops are usually prescribed to those who experience this difficulty.

With old age comes some degree of wear and tear on the body, and it becomes ever-more important to visit the optometrist regularly as you start to get older. Click here for more information if you think you might be developing any of these vision issues.

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About Me

I work on masonry all day long most days. I really enjoy working with my hands, so I loved my job when I first started in my early 20s. Over the years, my job had become less enjoyable due to the back pain I began experiencing on most work days. I hesitated to mention it to my doctor, because I didn't want to take any strong pain medications. When the pain became unbearable, I spoke to my doctor and he recommended physical therapy. I was unsure if it would work, but thought, "What have I got to lose?" While it took a few sessions before I noticed drastic pain relief, my pain is now under control and I rarely reach for OTC pain medications anymore. I know others out there work in strenuous fields and I plan to post many more tips for staying healthy when working a tough job!